The bench of Justice RR Prasad, which reserved the verdict on November 29 after concluding arguments on the petition, said Sharma had "very serious" charges in the 20A/96 fodder case.

Sharma was convicted in the case by a special CBI court on September 30. He was later on October 3 sentenced to four years in prison.

On the same day, RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and 43 others had also been convicted and sentenced to varying prison terms in the case pertaining to fraudulent withdrawal of Rs 37.7 crore from Chaibasa Treasury in the 1990s.

The same bench had on October 31 rejected the RJD supremo’s bail petition.